LAS VEGAS – When Brock Lesnar (5-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) walks into a room, his hulking frame and often-brooding demeanor make it easy to forget he’s recently had two battles with life-threatening illness.

But as his pending UFC 141 clash with former Strikeforce champ Alistair Overeem (35-11 MMA, 0-0 UFC) draws near, Lesnar says he realizes how fortunate he is to be just one win away from another shot at the UFC heavyweight crown.

On Tuesday, at an open workout session at “The Ultimate Fighter” gym in Las Vegas, Lesnar talked about his climb back to the top and why he envisions himself victorious on Friday night.

“I feel the greatest I’ve felt in a long time, and I’ve actually just sat and just pondered about how good I feel and how fortunate I am just to be back here,” Lesnar told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “May 27 of this year, I had 12 inches of my colon removed. I don’t even know how many months has gone by, and here I am in a pretty big fight. I don’t need any Christmas presents. That’s my Christmas present: just to be healthy and be back in the octagon.”

Of course, just being in the octagon isn’t enough for the self-admitted competition junkie. Lesnar wants to down Overeem and earn a shot at current champion Junior Dos Santos.

Check out the embedded video to see Lesnar’s conversation with the media, in which he discusses his good fortune, his thoughts on Overeem as an opponent and why his wrestling will ultimately prevail in the main event of UFC 141 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?